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Most labour migrants choose to attend informal “prayer houses”, which some locals and police see as hotbeds of “extremism”…

Russian far-right nationalists help organise raids on “prayer houses”, in an apparent effort to kill two birds with one stone.

They see the forcible conscription of Muslims as a way to rid Russia of unwanted “aliens” and help the faltering war effort, according to analysts.

Zov (Call), a group whose closed Telegram channel has 141,000 subscribers, routinely informs police about Muslim gatherings – and proudly announces raids, detentions and deportations...

Muslim labour migrants have faced hate attacks, arbitrary detentions and arrests, police brutality, extortion and threats for decades.

But after the Kremlin realised that its blitzkrieg in Ukraine failed amid disastrous losses of manpower, it threw a new curveball their way.

As part of a nationwide series of raids dubbed “Illegal 2023”, police have been combing construction sites, markets, farms, restaurants, apartment buildings, hostels and “prayer houses” – or simply rounding up anyone who does not look Slavic, according to rights groups and media reports.

During ID checks, they find “problems” – both imaginary and real, such as a lack of registration, a blurred stamp, or an expired work permit.

The migrants are locked up and forced to enlist in military service, facing several kinds of threats to ensure their cooperation, an expert said… Very few make their cases public, fearing persecution of their families, rights advocates have said, adding the immigrants are accustomed to authoritarian rule and police brutality in their countries of origin, often know little about their civil rights in Russia, do not have access to lawyers, and may not speak much Russian.

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